Former San Miguel star and Alaska ace gunner Dondon Hontiveros feels awkward playing against the Beermen

Dondon Hontiveros played almost all of his career with the San Miguel franchise.

And when he was trade years ago to Air 21, he was saddened by that decision of the San Miguel franchise.

Hontiveros have since moved on and has been with Alaska now for the past two years.

And every time he faced his former team, the University of Cebu standout feels that was an odd experience regarding the game against San Miguel Beer on Saturday night in the PLDT Home TVolution Commissioner’s Cup

The Cebuano hotshot admitted to Spin.ph that seeing the return of the San Miguel jersey brought back a lot of memories for Hontiveros prior to the start of the league’s first ever out-of-town game this conference during the Petron Saturday Special event.

“Parang nakakapanibago. Syempre, nung na-trade ako Petron na ang pangalan ng team eh,” said Hontiveros, who proudly wore the San Miguel colors for 11 years before he was dealt to Alaska.

The 36-year old cager disclosed feeling a little bit bizarre playing against a Beermen team wearing the San Miguel jersey, since Hontiveros said he played some of the best and fondest games of his career with the champion franchise.

During his more than a decade of playing for San Miguel, Hontiveros won three championships with the team and has also earned all of his 12 All-Star appearances with the team.

The veteran shooting guard also disclosed he approached new San Miguel acquisition Sol Mercado upon learning the Fil-Am point guard earlier planned to use his old jersey No. 7 shortly after he was acquired by the team.

The soft-spoken veteran said he appreciated Mercado’s hesitance to acquire his old No. 7 jersey, but then again insisted his willingness to pass on the fabled San Miguel uniform to the high-scoring guard.

“Basta na-appreciate ko yung ginawa ni Sol na he thought of using the number seven jersey for his fiance, but he didn’t kasi in a way as a sigh of respect to me,” he said.

“Pero sinabi ko na nga sa kanya ng twice kanina na wala sa akin yun, if he decides to use it,” added the ever amiable shooting guard.With how Hontiveros played against San Miguel, he proved that he still has gas left in his tanks as he is nearing the twilight of his scintillating career.--- with reports from Spin.ph

Former San Miguel star and Alaska ace gunner Dondon Hontiveros feels awkward playing against the Beermen
Reviewed by Jay-R Bayon-on
on
4/01/2014
Rating: 5